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"Luckily someone garnered these jewels before they were lost, bound them into one volume before they disappeared...it is filled with action, magic, and humanity...." -- St. Louis Globe-Democrat
"The oral folk tradition in Russia was truly a magic spring. As in the fairy tale, it flowed inexhaustibly, reviving, consoling, and enlightening all who partook of it... these stories have an ingenuity that marks them as uniquely Russian."
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ian Myles Slater on: Classic Tales, Enduring Translation,
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This review is from: Russian Fairy Tales (Paperback)
I have owned since 1975 a copy of an earlier, hardcover, reprint edition of this superb collection, which was originally published in 1945. I have used it for both light reading and for serious study (while in courses on Baltic and Slavic Folklore and Folktale Studies). The selection and translation of stories both seem first-rate. (For the latter, I have had to rely on the opinions of those who actually read Russian, instead of just having studied it in school). The accompanying illustrations are properly enchanting -- and only occasionally are placed where they give away the point of the story.The only real drawback is that it is still merely a selection from about three volumes (depending on the edition you prefer) of "skazki." This is the Russian term for oral tales of marvels, adventures, and misadventures, equivalent to the German "Maerchen." In both cases, the English term "Fairy Tale" is the conventional, but not really adequate, translation. (As usual in large collections, only a handful of tales concern anything like fairies.) One of the requirements for the selection seems to have been that the tales chosen should be acceptable to American parents in the 1940s, but otherwise the considerable variety of the original seems to have been largely preserved. The suggested reader age of "9 to 12" conceals the pleasure that adult readers with interests in folklore or Russian culture will derive from the volume. Fortunately, they may be lead to it by the fine supplementary material at the end, although this is now half a century old. Afanas'ev (various transliterations) was one of the many nineteenth-century collectors inspired by the Grimms,. By most accounts he was one of the most responsible, even though his practices of recording and documenting texts are hardly up to modern standards. (Neither were those of the Grimms, for that matter.) The main collection from which this was excerpted was the sourcebook for Vladimir Propp's "Morphology of the Folktale," a key work in modern folktale studies, but as Roman Jakobson (yes, the Structural Linguist) points out in his commentary to this collection, the book had already established itself as a gem of Russian literature, an inspiration and resource for poets.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
Lost in Translation,
By Fred Potter (Calgary, Alberta Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Russian Fairy Tales (Paperback)
It would seem that whatever style or flair that may have existed in the original texts have been completely lost in this translation. There are times when it seems that it was translated with some kind of software rather than a person who should understand the nuances and meanings of the words, transforming them into English in a meaningful way. Some stories make no sense whatsoever. A very disappointing effort that caused the book to be put away after several attempts.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A huge collection,
By Stephen Arkanell "cjm" (United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Russian Fairy Tales (Paperback)
What the Grimm Brothers did for fairy tales in Germany, Afanas'ev did for Russia. Over the course of his lifetime(1826-1871), he collected countless of these wonderful little stories from common folk, just as the Grimms did. This collection contains stories of adventure and enchantment, animal fables and more. Included are stories of Vasilissa and Baba Yaga, the witch whose house was built on chicken feet, and the famous story of the giant turnip. There's even some stories about vampires. But be prepared, this book is huge! And every bit of it distinctly Russian.
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